Can RTV Sealant Help The Performance Of Your Direct Vent Fireplace
If you have a direct vent fireplace with poor performance quality; like low flames, excess soot or random flame outage; you may have missed a critical component during installation. Mill Pac is a brand of high-temperature sealant, similar to a silicone sealant, that is applied to venting for direct vent fireplaces.
It helps to seal connections or any other places where air may leak out. Mill Pac is a widely used and trusted brand of sealant because it has a less rubbery consistency and higher temperature rating than many others.
Though it is very important to use a RTV sealant, or fire caulk as some call it, you could opt for Rutland Seal It Right, as a more affordable but still quality alternative. The most important thing to understand is that if the fire caulk was not applied at the original installation, you may end up with gas leaking from the exhaust pipe into the intake air pipe. If that leak is bad enough, it can be the culprit behind your poor fireplace performance.
It's absolutely necessary for the sealant to be applied at the flue collar and anywhere flex vent pipe meets a stationary piece of pipe. If you are joining flex piping to a rigid coupler or transitioning to a rigid section through the roof or wall, its suggested to use the sealant to make sure the flex pipe doesnt lose its grip.
